Traditional cultural expressions and international intellectual property law

Abstract

This presentation draws on my doctoral research, which was conducted on traditional cultural expressions in international law. This subject still fills me with passion even after having spent many years studying it. To sum up my Ph.D. thesis in a sentence, I studied how international law embraces traditional dances, songs, handicrafts, designs, and rituals. Very diverse fields of laws were relevant for this research, but in the framework of this presentation, the focus was kept on intellectual property. The goal of this presentation was to provide answers to two essential questions. The first question relates to the definition of traditional cultural expressions (I), the second one concerned the reasons underpinning the introduction of this concept in international law (II).